New quake rattles jittery Ecuador

PEDERNALES, Ecuador — A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Ecuador on Wednesday, sowing new panic four days after a powerful quake killed more than 500 people and injured over 5,000.

The latest quake caused no damage or casualties, but shook the ground forcefully in the middle of the night, sending terrified residents running into the street in the devastated resort town of Pedernales.

Some families opted to spend the rest of the night outdoors for fear their homes could collapse like hundreds of buildings did in Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, said AFP reporters.

The toll from that quake continued to rise as emergency workers untangled the masses of rubble, often by hand or with basic tools.

President Rafael Correa said officials had now registered 525 people killed, 5,733 injured and 163 missing.

"The death toll will continue to rise, unfortunately, but at a slower pace. Many bodies have already been recovered," he said.

At least 11 foreigners were killed in Saturday’s quake, which struck a Pacific coast region popular with tourists. They included citizens of Britain, Canada, Ireland and several Latin American countries.

Ecuadoran authorities called the latest quake an aftershock -- one of more than 500 since Saturday, they said.

The US Geological Survey said it struck at 3:33 am (0833 GMT) at a depth of 16 kilometers.

Losing hope

Saturday’s quake is the worst to hit Latin America and the Caribbean since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, which killed between 200,000 and 250,000 people.

Rescue teams worked through the night in the wreckage of coastal towns such as Pedernales and Manta, where the stench of rotting bodies has been growing stronger in the tropical heat.

Hope of finding more victims alive was fading fast.

One of the bodies pulled from the ruins was that of six-year-old Jose David Eras, a Colombian-Ecuadoran boy trapped beneath the rubble of a hotel in Pedernales -- one of around 800 structures toppled in the quake.

Both countries had been on tenterhooks awaiting news of his fate after rescue workers detected signs of life in the debris using a special scanner.

But the Colombian foreign ministry said his lifeless body had been found. — AFP